The Complete Heretic's Guide to Western Religion, Book 1: The Mormons

Many years ago my wife at the time threatened to divorce me if I didn’t join the Mormon church. I should have taken the divorce. Instead, I joined just to get her out of the church. Took me a year but I was successful. I wish that I Shad this book then! Excellent objective coverage with references and without histrionics! Covered all the important things. But did miss the amount of money the Mormon missionaries get for each convert? This is a closely guarded secret…I heard $16,000.00 per convert from one source. Research on this would be good to add to this book.

Every now and then while driving, I see a pair of neatly dressed young men on bicycles.Their cycling attire (formal white shirts & black trousers at odds with Darwin's tropical humid heat), their physique, and the name badges on their shirts, all indicate to me that they are probably young Mormon elders on their mandatory mission.As an agnostic ex-Lutheran I knew very little about Mormon history and beliefs, I'd read bits & pieces about a white American prophet killed by a mob, an angel, golden tablets, "magic" spectacles and "special" underwear, and was keen to find out more.To me the Mormon church were a strange church originating in an overseas country (the USA) but now after reading this book I view the Mormon church as a VERY strange religious church originating in the USA.It was a fascinating read, but I must admit that I skipped through the sections on the Mountain Meadows Massacre as I found it very unpalatable reading due to the horror of it all.The book reminds me of one I read earlier detailing another church, Scientology.That particular book was written by an ex-member of the Scientology sect - the author of the book under review was not a member of the Mormon church as far as I'm aware, but he certainly did some very meticulous research.I give the book 5 stars partly because it is well written, and partly because I warmed to the author's attitude.So many otherwise good books exposing religious beliefs have turned me off because of the nasty tone in which they are written, as if church members without exception are contemptuous morons inviting insults and ridicule, but thankfully David Fitzgerald's book is not written in this fashion.He doesn't stint when exploring the sheer absurdity of the Mormon belief system and is even sarcastic at times, but he does it in a very engaging fashion - he even advocates treating elders knocking at one's door with kindness and respect while gently explaining that their religion is not acceptable, something that I have always intended to do if I am ever "visited".I think another point that makes this book credible for me, is the number of positive reviews given here by readers who have been directly or indirectly involved with the Church.(If the author writes an e-book on Scientology, I will definitely buy it).

While PT Barnum made the statement that ...'there is a sucker born every minute', David Fitzgerald restates it and says ....'there is a member of Mormonism born every minute'. While seeing himself as being a atheistic heretic I, on the other hand, see the author has being both a truth-seeker and a realist. The historical myths that he reveals in this text is both shocking and, yet, fully expected. Mankind has historically sought out the answers to two pressing questions; What happens after I die? What is my purpose for living? While numerous dogmas have been created around these questions, the Mormon tenets, like most others, are based on wishes and hopes rather than facts and events. Joseph Smith was little more than a 'magic rock' charlatan who decided he could take his inane act to the next level and, by doing so, obtain for himself the riches and fame that he felt he deserved. What resulted, as we know, was a magical belief system that included magic underwear, a planetary god, fifty wives, and civil revolutions. But is also included for Smith the money and power that he sought. Brigham Young followed lock-step in Smith's footsteps and turned a façade of belief and magic into a full blown set of church rules and certitudes. And, believe it or not, the magic continues through to today with Mormonism being the fastest growing of all world religions.Why then would members abide by such a fairy tale belief system? Because Smith and Young gave them the answers to the above two questions and added to them the 'fact' that they, and only they, after death would gain the highest recognition from their fairy tale god. Additionally their purpose in life was now clearly defined as being to a period spent pleasing the 'heavenly father'. A very sad tale of deceit on a massive level. But, unfortunately one that is not unlike all other organized religions that begins in myth and winds up in exceptionalism, power and corruption ............

Excellent book. I highly recommend it. I found chapter 9 " Book of Mormon problems " most interesting. It shows how errors in the Book of Mormon are identical to the 1769 KJV Bible, some passages use parts of Shakespeare's play, " Hamlet " also words like adieu which Shakespeare used frequently turn up in the BOM. What of Biblegod's ignorance of the existence of the New World & Australia; a glaring omission? No priest or Imam prophesied it. Only Joseph Smith wrote it into his scriptures after the event. I think it was smart of Joseph Smith to notice this omission, maybe God's oversight troubled him and so he made up the story that actually God did know all about it and instructed the lost tribe of Israel to sail from Arabia in 600 BCE across the Pacific ocean to the Americas, taking with them horses, cows and wheat. Only thing is that when the Europeans discovered the Americas in 1492 there was no trace of any horses, cows or wheat or Israelites. It was also clever of Joseph Smith to wonder how come if Jesus could fly up into the sky in Acts 1v9, that he didn't fly over the pond ? No problem, just invent a story that Jesus did just that. Again no evidence to support it. The native Americans had no recollection about it by 1492 so Joseph Smith needed to receive the revelation in 1825. If Jesus had told his disciples about the New World in his Old Word book then the Old World might have discovered the New World foods 1500 years sooner and enjoyed foods native to the Americas such as: sweetcorn - corn flour custard - popcorn, avocado, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet & chili peppers, pumpkin, courgette, vanilla, peanuts, green beans, coca-cola & turkey.Science & reason can allow people to see the funny side of religion. It is a delicious irony that chocolate eggs are such a prominent feature of Easter because Jesus did nothing to speed the discovery of chocolate. In fact his silence about the existence of the Americas may have been interpreted as saying that there was no major new information to tell about the continents of Earth. It looks like he did not use his talents to their full. The rolling of Easter eggs could symbolize the rolling away of the myths of relegion & of the individual leaving Plato /Freud's cave / tomb.Atheism is the appliance of science which enables us to pull the Easter bunny out of the hat.With 21st century knowledge, all things can work for good for those who love truth. Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter foods can be a celebration that science, reason and scripture scholarship have been the tools to help us work out, beyond reasonable doubt, that Christianity is largely based on myth and that the Bible is more akin to novels like the historical fictions of Sir Walter Scott or play by William Shakespeare. Not totally false but not nearly all true.When I tuck into turkey I think, " Jesus is stuffed ".When I eat pumpkin pie with maple syrup I think, " Jesus coach and horses has turned back into a pumpkin, four mice, a rat and a lizard." [ you can decide for yourself which member of the clergy is the mouse, rat and lizard ]When I eat potato crisps I think " Man can not live on bread alone so why didn't Jesus tell us about potatoes "And when I raise a glass of coca cola I might say " No thanks to the Abrahamic gods, they never revealed the Americas to any of their followers "America the land of the free, or freedom from religion, if people were aware of their roots.Old Testament God implied that the world was flat, people were afraid of falling off the edge of the ocean. Levi ti cuss 11v22 offers people locusts when it could have told them about tomatoes & peanuts.Luke 4v5 has the devil show Jesus all the kingdoms of the world but Jesus keeps the existence of America secret from everyone.Acts 10v12 Could have fisherman Peter see a vision of a table cloth with New World foods spread on it and a voice commanding him to sail over the pond and receive chocolate etc as his reward. Instead Peter is offered reptiles. ' [ note that Matt 7v10 says who would give their son a snake when they asked for chocolate ]No religious leader predicted the existence of the Americas or Australia before Christopher Columbus bumped into the Americas and even he thought he'd found far side of the far east.Real history shows the scriptures to be mostly made up, invented history, a warped history of the world. Science turns the scriptures into a joke book. Higher criticism has the tools to solve the Bible puzzle, but even a child could use a rule of thumb and decide the minister is just making stuff up.

This is a great book that shows all the problems in the LDS faith. I felt that it came from a neutral perspective, but showed all the problems with 'Gods one true church'.

As a former Mormon, I was impressed by the author's tact and compassion towards the members of the church, amused and enlightened by his humorous, yet rigorously researched approach, and appalled by the level of whitewashing that I had been completely unaware of during my time in the church. Whilst I was young (14 or 15) when I was baptized, and got out after only about four years, I must admit a bit of an apologist streak, thus far, when it came to the Mormons, mostly due to the fact that I met so many wonderful people in the church... As an ardent and firm Agnostic Secular Humanist nowadays, I cannot read or say enough about the evils of organized religions. I agree completely with the author in advocating a mild, compassionate and gentle approach towards discussion with their adherents, particularly those ones so utterly and convincingly brainwashed by these particularly pervasive organizations. It is not easy, believe me, to rid oneself of these beliefs, however bonkers they appear to the uninitiated! It's lonely and cold out there, when first leaving religion behind, but it has utterly transformed and liberated me - yet not without some serious guilt issues and psychological torment, initially... Scorn the beliefs if you must, but love the believer... However, I have radically changed in my mildly apologetic stance, and I marvel afresh at how completely I was taken in, over such a short space of time... Read this book and marvel yourself, at the complete lunacy!

Received in good order. Not yet finished it but is very interesting and funny.

This provides a fun background read to the history and current status of Mormonism. Recommended